Forestry officials are keeping a close watch on the drought conditions here because we haven’t seen any significant rain in about a month.

We learned today — 176 new wildfires are now burning throughout Northwest Georgia, that’s since Friday. Absolutely no burn permits are being issued in most areas because of the dry conditions. Right now, 150 firefighters throughout Georgia are battling those flames on the front lines.

Across our area, it’s dry. And, that’s the reason experts are concerned about those wildfires spreading here. All the rain we received from Hurricane Matthew helped us with the drought, but the bottom line is, we need more rain.

“Having that rain from Matthew and Hermine definitely bought us a little bit of time, but you know the clock is ticking now because there’s really no rain in the forecast for the next 7 to 10 days,” says Kyle Dennis, WSAV Meteorologist.

FEMA has authorized federal funds to Georgia to help fight those fires.